


Christmas Day and All Do the Best They May

by DonnesCafe



Series: Christmas Visitations with Wedding Interludes [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Babies, Christmas, F/M, First Kiss, Holidays, Love, Snowmen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 13:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1430209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonnesCafe/pseuds/DonnesCafe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Day at Mycroft's. Some make snowmen and snowballs. Goose is eaten and wine is drunk. Some play billiards. Some kiss. Mrs. Hudson is, as usual, very smart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Day and All Do the Best They May

_Good fortune attend each merry man's friend_  
 _That does but as best as he may_  
 _To banish old wrong with a cup and a song_  
 _And drive the cold winter away.  
_

~~ John Playford, “Drive the Cold Winter Away” (1651) 

~~~~~  


Sherlock kissed the golden fluff on the top of Shae Martha’s small head. She bounced against his chest. Everyone had had a festive Christmas morning breakfast, and there had been lots of gifts, some funny, many touching. He had given Janine a book on apiculture, which she threw at him, laughing. She had given him a book of violin descants for choir arrangements of the Oxford carols. He had smiled and not thrown it. Instead, he had thought about St. Margaret’s. They really could use more instruments for high holy days. 

Now he and Mrs. Hudson were standing at the windows of a cosy parlor, looking out onto the snow-covered front lawn. Sherlock was holding the baby, and Mrs. Hudson was looking at both of them with a fatuous expression on her face. They had volunteered to co-babysit and give nanny a break. They had also told John and Mary to get lost. He and Mrs. Hudson hadn’t gotten to spend enough quality time with their name-sake. 

Sherlock had been touched that John and Mary sort of named her for him after all. Shae was close enough, they told him. He never managed to convince John that Sherlock was a girl’s name. He smiled, then hid the smile in the baby’s soft neck. 

Mrs. H walked over to the coffee table and poured a cup of the hot chocolate that Ferris had brought them. She added peppermint sprinkles, came back, and held the cup out to him. “Here. Let me take her for a bit.” Sherlock kissed the baby’s rosy cheek. After all, there was no-one but Mrs. H to see. They managed the transfer. 

They both looked out onto the long, sloping expanse of white where Mycroft and most of his guests were making rival snowmen. Ferris and one of his lieutenants appeared outside with trays of hot chocolate, steam rising from the cups in the cold air. The nanny was out playing with the others. She was a formidable grey-haired woman with a French accent who had just now thrown a snowball at Mycroft. Good aim. Square in the chest. Mycroft smiled and bent to make a snowball of his own. Sherlock shook his head. He was trying to get used to his new view of the new Mycroft. John took Mary’s red scarf and wrapped it around the neck of their team’s snow-person. Molly and Jasper seemed to be heading the rival team, and Jasper had just sacrificed his hat. Janine came around from the back of the house. She had apparently been raiding the kitchen. She handed Molly a…. ah, carrot. For the nose. 

“You’re good with her, Sherlock. Time to be thinking about some of your own, love.” 

He turned and looked at her and his god-daughter. “Wouldn’t fit in with the skull and the flying bullets. Besides, mine wouldn’t be so well-behaved.” Shae cooed at the compliment. 

He tickled the baby’s cheek. She smiled toothlessly. His heart turned over. “They’d be like me. Hellions, difficult, restless. They’d never sleep.” 

“They would be beautiful, Sherlock Holmes," she said, indignant for his unborn offspring. "They would be smart as whips. Of course they’ll be hellions. We’ll all love them anyway.” 

“Getting ahead of yourself, Mrs. H.” 

“I like Janine. She’s very pretty. I remember her from the wedding. We had a nice chat last night.” 

“Hmm,” said Sherlock and turned back to the window. Mrs. Hudson pictured baby formula in the fridge at 221B instead of body parts. She smiled. She wanted to see her boys happy. She walked over to a comfortable-looking wing-chair, sat and cradled the baby in her lap. Leaning down, she whispered in Shae’s ear. “Yes, love. You’re going to have friends coming along. Just a bit younger. They may get you in trouble, but you’ll be a good influence. You’re just like John. I can tell.” 

“What’s that, Mrs. Hudson?” 

“Nothing, dear.” She smoothed Shae’s golden hair gently. She liked Janine very much. 

~~~~~  


“So, you and Janine.” Sherlock and John were playing billiards in the game-room. Everyone else was in the media-room watching the King’s College Christmas service on the BBC on a very wide-screened television. There had been a lavish Christmas dinner. He had been right. There had been goose and a flaming pudding. It had all been delicious. Much wine and laughter. Paper hats. Sherlock had worn one with only token protest. 

“Hmm,” said Sherlock. “Me and Janine…,” He chalked his cue deliberately and aimed carefully. “Eight ball in the side.” 

“Hell,” said John. Sherlock had just won his second game. Was the man good at everything? John racked the balls and broke them. He straightened up. “Care to fill me in? I thought that was all part of a plot. What happened?” 

Sherlock didn’t move to take a shot. He planted the tip of the cue on the carpet and leaned on it. “After Magnussen, after I… everything….,” He stopped. 

John cocked his head. 

Sherlock leaned over the table. The five ball went into the corner. John waited. 

“I missed her, John. I thought I was pretending, but I missed her. I felt terrible about what I’d done. I wanted to see her again. I wanted to apologize. So I went to Sussex. We talked.” 

John looked at him levelly, then chalked his cue. “Three in the side.” He made the shot. “And…?” 

“I don’t know John. I care about her. We’re friends. We’ll see.” 

John smiled. Yes, they would see. Soon, he thought. “Mary and I really like her, Sherlock. By the way, she and Mary talked about the thing in Magnussen’s office. She knows about Mary. They’re good.” 

“Hmm. Seven in the corner.” 

~~~~~  


Sherlock lost the last game. He and John wandered toward the media-room. “Angels We Have Heard on High” filtered out into the hall. John went in and sat beside Mary, putting an arm around her. She snuggled in. Sherlock hesitated in the doorway. Janine got up and came to him. 

“Walk?” she asked. They got their coats and went out into the back garden, now covered with snow. 

“Have you had a good Christmas?” he asked. 

“The best,” she said. They walked close together, not touching. She didn’t look at him. “Everyone is so nice. My parents died when I was a wee thing. Never had much family. This has been brilliant.” 

Sherlock stopped. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I mean, about your parents.” 

She shrugged and walked on. “Car accident when I was eight. Only child. An aunt and uncle raised me. They were good to me. I’ve got some family in Ireland. But it isn’t the same.” 

He reached out and stopped her. Left a hand on her arm. She turned to face him. “I’m afraid I’m going to be a rubbish boyfriend. I’ve never done it. But do you think you might want to try me out? As a boyfriend or whatever you want me to be?” 

She looked at him seriously. “Kiss me, and I’ll let you know.” 

He had kissed her before, of course, but that had been different. It hadn’t been real, hadn’t mattered. He was a good actor. He could cry, he could laugh, he could kiss. It didn’t matter. This did. He stepped closer, brushed back the hair from her face softly with one hand. He traced her lips gently with a finger. Then he leaned in and touched her lips very softly with his. Then he drew back. He was shaking. When it was real, he thought, he was bad at it. Really bad. 

“Oh, Sherlock.” She had tears in her eyes. “You’ll do. That was grand.” She touched his face lightly with one hand and smiled.


End file.
